NY Jets may keep Dee Milliner on bench after game vs. Patriots

Dee Milliner, the rookie who was pegged to replace Darrelle Revis, was benched on Thursday and might not get his job back so quickly.

The ninth pick of this year's draft had a tough night against the Patriots. Among his mistakes, he allowed Kenbrell Thompkins to get behind him on a play that would have been a touchdown if the receiver had held on to the ball. Rex Ryan said the rookie's progress has been hindered by shoulder surgery in March.

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"I don't know. We'll see," Ryan said about his starting status. "The young man, like I said before, it's unfortunate that he missed so much work. All of minicamp rehabbing the shoulder surgery. He missed a lot of training camp as well, so we kind of just threw him into the fire."

Milliner played 37 snaps on Thursday before he was replaced by a combination of Kyle Wilson and Darrin Walls. "I just thought that at that time, I just thought it was best that hey, you know what, sit him down, let him watch it and we'll go with more experience out there," Ryan said.

Added the coach, "That's what this kid's lacking, is just the NFL experience. He did play on the biggest stage in college football (at Alabama). I think it's just a matter of time before he makes the adjustments to the NFL game."

WAR OF WORDS Ryan avoided addressing the possibility of Willie Colon being suspended for making contact with a referee during a post-game scrum, but did say he thought Nick Mangold's illegal tackle of Aqib Talib on the clinching interception return was unintentional. Bill Belichick yelled at Mangold after the play.

"Look I've yelled at his players, too. A lot of that stuff happens," Ryan said on ESPN Radio. "But yelling at my player that he did something intentional, that's not the case. Nick wasn't trying to injure that guy or hit him out of bounds or anything else. And Mangold's not that type of player and Belichick should know better than that. I promise you he does if he looks at it now, Nick is not that kind of player."

PAY UP Jets safety Dawan Landry was fined $21,000 for unnecessary roughness for striking Bucs WR Mike Williams in the head and neck area last week. Bucs S Dashon Goldson was fined $30,000 for the same penalty against Jeff Cumberland, who received stitches on his chin.

And Bucs LB Lavonte David's terrible penalty drawn by pushing Geno Smith while out of bounds became even more costly: he was fined $7,875 for the shove.

IVORY TOWER Ryan was pleased with the way that Chris Ivory ran the ball against the Patriots. Ivory ran for 52 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per carry with a fumble that was recovered by the Jets. Ryan did not explain why Ivory received only one fourth-quarter rush. . . . Ryan did not provide any injury update on star defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson, who injured his ankle Thursday night.